Local Government: September 2008

Description of Electoral System:

The president of Malawi, is both Head of State and Government, and is directly elected through universal suffrage by a plurality. Elections are held concurrently with those of the National Assembly and are held every five years. The President is restricted to two five year terms. The First Vice-President is elected on the same ticket as the President and the President may nominate a Second Vice-President from another party.

Legislative Power is vested in a parliament consisting of the President and the National Assembly. The National Assembly has 193 Seats, elected from single member constituencies using the First Past The Post (FPTP) system. The Senate was abolished in 2001.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

*Click on links for definitions

WANT MORE ELECTION RELATED STATS FOR MALAWI? Go to "election databases" on the left-hand menu of this page OR comparative data on the right-hand menu and choose your area of interest.

Politics of Malawi

 

Event

 

Workshop: Technical training for the Malawi Electoral Commission

EISA will hold an orientation workshop for the commissioners and training of  trainers for senior staff of the Malawi electoral commission (MEC) from 02 -06 June in Zomba, Malawi. Read More>>

Workshop:  Malawi Electoral Commission staff undergone training

The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), with support from UNDP Malawi, trained the third group of  secretariat staff at Hotel Masongola in Zomba, Malawi from 11th  to 15th February 2008.

 

After independence in 1964 Malawi became a one-party state with Dr Hasting Banda proclaimed President-for-Life. Domestic protest and international pressure led to a referendum on the one-party-state in June 1993 and in 1994 multiparty elections followed.

The 1994 elections were characterised by a regional pattern of voting which has continued since. The ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP) was ousted from power by the United Democratic Front (UDF) under Baliki Maluzi, who became President. The UDF won the 1999 election with a narrow margin and the results were contested by the opposition who alleged fraud. Ahead of the 2004 elections President Maluzi unsuccessfully attempted to have the constitution amended to allow him to stand for a third term, which led to a split in the UDF.

President Bingu Wa Mutharika, who won the 2004 election as the candidate of the UDF, but he resigned from the party on 5 February 2005 and March 2005 he formed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Previous elections

DID YOU KNOW? Only 14.4% of members of the National Assembly elected in 2004 were women

The 2004 Presidential election, was won by UDF/Alliance For Democracy’s candidate Bingu Wa Mutharika with 35.8% of the votes, followed by John Tembo of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) with 27.0%. The Mgwirizano Coalition's Gwanda Chakuamba obtained 26.0%, Brown Mpinganjira of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) 8.7% and independent candidate Justin Malewezi  2.5% (For further information see: 2004 Presidential election results)

In the National Assembly the MCP won 30.5% of the seats,the UDF 25.3%, the Mgwirizano Coalition 13.9%, the independents claimed 19.6%.The balance went to other parties (For further information see: 2004 National Assembly election results)

Next elections

Presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for May 2009.